A Time for Every Purpose
by patricia51
Summary: Miley misses someone, as she has for a long time. But any ending just marks the beginning of something new. Rated T for character death.


A Time for Every Purpose by patricia51

(Suggested by the song of "Turn!, Turn!, Turn!" by the Byrds, using it as a reminder that everything has its time ordained. Even this.)

"To everything turn, turn, turn.  
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.  
And a time to every purpose under Heaven."

Miley Stewart-Truscott braced her hands on the chair and slowly levered herself to her feet. She grasped her cane in one gnarled hand and steadied herself as she waved away the offer of one of the attendants to bring her a wheelchair. She smiled her thanks at the young woman but shook her head. She shuffled out of the dining room and down the hallway to her room.

It took a while but she made it, almost collapsing into her armchair. She nodded to herself with a bit of pride.

"Made it again. Not too bad for someone over a hundred," she proclaimed.

It wasn't much but it was her way of showing everyone, especially herself, that she still had a bit of life left in her. Of course now she was pooped. That hallway got longer every day but Miley was determined that she WOULD walk to and from her meals. Not that she ate much anymore. She just didn't seem to have any appetite. Jackson would have never believed that pancakes had been served this morning and she hadn't even finished one, much less not tried for seconds.

Well, it wasn't like she needed all that much food. She used to burn more energy springing out of bed in the morning than she did all day long now. But those were the days of school, of college, of working to build a business and of raising a family. Good busy days that demanded everything she could give.

Of course, and a mischievous grin crossed were worn face, she hadn't ALWAYS sprung out of bed. And who could blame her when for all those decades she woke next to a beautiful beloved surfer girl? So sometimes they were late for work and sometimes their kids had to get their own breakfast. And after everyone was grown and they were financially secure and didn't HAVE to get out of bed first thing, well, they didn't. Lilly simply grew lovelier, and sexier, as she grew older.

Even when they became grandparents and then great-grandparents Miley always saw Lilly as the slender, sparkling athletic girl she had fallen in love with back in High School. The girl who had taught her to surf, the girl she had been lab partners with, the girl that she had gone to the prom with. Even when Lilly was diagnosed with a particularly virulent form of cancer and had suffered through the treatments. Modern medicine had advanced a long way since the beginning of the twenty-first century but for this all the guns were needed. The medics dug out chemotherapy and radiation on top of everything else until finally Lilly called a halt.

"Enough," she had told Miley.

"No, please Lilly. Fight it."

"I've fought it all I can. Now I'm tired. I want to go home Miley."

"I'll take you there," whispered the other woman.

It wasn't long but there was time to gather the family. Three generations surrounded Lilly as the end drew near. The once surfer girl roused herself one more time to take Miley's hand and hold it.

"For seventy years I have loved you Miley. It's not going to end just because my life is over. It's not the end of anything but rather the beginning."

Tears cascaded down Miley's withered cheeks. "Wait for me Lilly."

"I will sweetheart. When it's your time I will be the first thing you will see when you open your eyes after they have closed for the last time here. I promise."

Miley opened her eyes for a moment, blinking the moisture from them. Not a day had gone by since that day. Those had been the last words she and her spouse of seven decades had shared. Shortly after that Lilly had peacefully slipped away.

She didn't have Lilly anymore, but she still had the memories of their time together. She lived those memories over and over again, cherishing them each time as though she was living them all over again. There had been times of laughter, times of tears, times that had tried them and times that had bound them closer together. But all together they spelled a life as happy as anyone could have wished for. But not a day went by that Miley didn't miss her beloved, miss her so much that it hurt.

She noticed the light blinking on her comp terminal indicating she had mail. She muttered under her breath, wishing she had seen it before she sat down.

"Ups-a-daisy Miley," she told herself.

It was only four steps to the machine and then four steps back after she had printed out the incoming message but it seemed like it had been a journey that had sapped all her strength.

"If this turns out to be junk mail I may throw that stupid comp terminal out the window Lilly." She sprawled in her chair, trying to catch her breath. "Oh wait, that darn thing gets a reprieve. It's from Nell. I wonder what our youngest granddaughter is up to. It's been a while."

Miley read the letter out loud as though Lilly was sitting next to her, a habit she had picked up long ago when her spouse had still been with her. She found nothing unusual about it, anymore than the conversations she often carried on with Lilly. As she had explained more than once "Just because she's not here doesn't mean she can't hear me. Besides, I talked to her for seventy years. You expect me to stop now?"

After finishing the letter Miley felt wiped out. She leaned back in the chair and once more closed her eyes. The paper slipped from her hands as she passed into sleep. Her breathing became shallow and slow and finally stopped.

"Miley. Ohhhhh Mileyyyyyyyyy." Finally a familiar but exasperated voice snapped "MILEY!"

"Huh? What?" Miley blinked her eyes. "Goodness Lilly I just closed my eyes for a moment. What are you hollering for?" She suddenly sat bolt upright.

"Lilly?"

The slender young woman before her laughed and nodded. "Miley I swear. I told you I would wait but had I known how long you were going to make me hang around I might have thought twice about making promises."

"Lilly?"

The surfer girl smiled and reached out to take Miley's hands. Hands that Miley realized were no longer gnarled and wrinkled. They were smooth and supple, the hands of a girl just out of her teens. Lilly laughed again, laced her fingers with the other woman and gave a yank.

"Get up, get up! We have places to go and people to see."

Miley shot to her feet, bracing for the inevitable aches and pains that quick a movement would bring. But there were none.

"No silly, there won't ever be any hurt anymore." Lilly leaned forward and kissed Miley.

"I don't understand. Where are we going and who are we seeing?"

"Me for one baby girl," came a soft voice.

"Mom?"

"And me too bud."

"Dad?"

"Lilly, was she always this slow on the uptake? Sweet niblets Miley. Where would I be except with your mother?"

"But Mom, Dad, you're..."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "I guess she IS that slow Dad. Miley, turn around."

Miley turned. Lilly slid her arms around her waist and rested her chin on Miley's shoulder.

"Who is that Miley?"

Miley stared at the old woman in the chair. "That s me," she said in wonder.

"No, that WAS you. Now this is you." The surfer girl tightened her arms.

Miley looked at herself, the self that was in Lilly's arms. She was young and pretty again, as was her long missed partner. Out of the corners of her eyes she caught glimpses of her mother and dad, her brother, relatives and friends all the way back to school. But when she looked around all she saw was Lilly.

"I've missed you so much." she whispered, snuggling close into an embrace that she wished would never end.

"Well, I've missed you too darling. But the waiting is over now."

Miley turned around in Lilly's grasp and wrapped her arms around her surfer girl. "What happens now?"

"Now? Forever happens now." Lilly smiled and Miley felt like laughing and singing and dancing all at the same time. Joy bubbled up inside her. "After all, didn't we promise that to each other at our commitment? The time to weep is gone, never to return."

The room faded away around them as a bright world opened up. Hand in hand the two lovers ventured into it, leaving the one behind.

"A time to be born, a time to die,  
A time to plant, a time to reap,  
A time to kill, a time to heal,  
A time to laugh, a time to weep."

(The End)

(This hit me the other night watching the video and I basically wrote the entire story in one sitting, reminding myself that every end just marks the beginning of something new.) 


End file.
